Understanding Our Nervous System

We are hardwired to be in connection with ourselves and others.

And our nervous system acts as a barometer of our implicit and explicit experiences. It is operating automatically, below our level of awareness, to help us feel safe within, between ourself and others, as well as within the world at large. We, oftentimes, aren’t aware that it is working from an outdated model that kept us safe when we were little. And that our reactions to present day experiences can be better modulated from our present-day self that has more choice, coping mechanisms, experience and wisdom than our younger selves ever did.

With increased awareness to how our nervous system works, we can see how it has become conditioned to continue to respond/react to experiences that it senses are unsafe in a way that it did when we were little. Experiencing unregulated emotions as an infant, for example, required the nervous system to protect us by disconnecting from the emotion itself and dropping us into a fight/flight or collapsed state of being.  You didn’t consciously shut down your emotions, your nervous system was protecting you. However, as an adult, we know that our emotions are energy and signals that hold wisdom and require our attention if we are to truly know ourselves. Fortunately, learning how our nervous system works, empowers us to regulate it in a way that allows us to remain connected and present.